“Mid-Tier developers will struggle in future,” says Ian Livingstone

Eidos life president, Ian Livingstone, feels that mid-tier console studios could soon be a thing of the past as triple-A games grow larger, and consumers become more interested in mobile and broswer-based games.

Speaking during BAFTA’s question time, Livingstone said with big studios constantly investing more money in cutting edge technology, mid-tier studios could struggle to compete and likely disappear.

He also said the consumer will be spoilt for choice with so many platforms such as mobile and browser at his disposal, and the huge amount of cheap apps available on said platforms, resulting in the demise of small console developers’ producing titles unable to stand out from such a large crowd.

“It’s certainly a case of the rich getting richer,” said Livingstone. “The bar is being raised in every sequel that the mid-tier developers haven’t got a hope in hell of surviving. Everyone is buying the same games like Call of Duty and FIFA. The mid-tier is going to go away because people have so much more choice on mobile platforms and Facebook today.

“Mid-tier console games have got huge problems ahead.”

Peter Molyneux, who also participated in the panel, said a game must sell anywhere between five to seven million units to achieve triple-A status, and could cost £50 million £80 million to make.